


This Was Easier When I Hated You

by nerdfighterwhatevernumbers



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Communication, M/M, Misunderstandings, Oneshot, Tumblr Prompt, mild jealousy, tango cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 12:25:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9607556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdfighterwhatevernumbers/pseuds/nerdfighterwhatevernumbers
Summary: Things are mostly cool between Nursey and Dex, but they still need to work some things out.





	

“Um, are you okay?” Tango asked cautiously.

Dex was still pouting, face red, arms crossed, trying to calm down on the cold porch. With any luck, tonight's incident would get him off Nursey Patrol for a while. The kegster was barely started, yet Ransom and Holster already had to break up one of their stupid fights. He hadn’t realized Nursey’s favorite Tadpole followed him when he stormed out. If anything, he assumed he’d be looking after Nursey. Not that Dex cared if someone was checking on Nursey.

“I’m fine. We fight all the time, you’ll get used to it.”

Tango looked confused, as usual. “You fight all the time?”

“Haven’t you noticed?”

Tango thought for a moment then answered, “I guess so? I kind of assumed it was just chirping like everyone else does?” Tango moved his solo cup back and forth between his hands nervously but didn’t drink from it. The team told him all the time questions were okay, but it still made him nervous. This kid was so innocent. (Did Dex really just think of a dude a year younger than him as a kid? He was turning into Bitty.)

“Sometimes it is- we’re a lot better than last year, that’s for sure. Other times one of us will just say the wrong thing and instead of dropping it, we go all out.”

“Why?”

Dex shrugged, getting uncomfortable with Tango’s questions but not wanting to make him feel bad. “I don’t know, we just get under each others’ skin.”

“Do you not like each other?”  
“It’s more like-” Dex ran his hand through his hair, trying to put it into words for the first time. He got anxious when he tried to analyze it. It wasn’t a fun feeling. “Have you ever wanted to hate someone? Like, it’d be easier if you knew what you were doing and didn’t have to care?”

It kind of pissed him off how much he cared.

“I mean… Last year we almost hated each other and it sucked on the ice and it sucked for Chowder, but now there’s something else. If we fight now, I actually have to care because he’s my friend. It almost bugs me more when he says something stupid because he’s supposed to be my friend, he’s supposed to get why stuff about money pisses me off now, he’s supposed to get that I’m not homophobic, but then he goes and does stuff like tonight.”

Dex realized he was getting worked up all over again. It wasn't exactly easy when they weren't friends, but back then he could have ignored anything Nursey did and just leave when they weren't on the ice. Now it had to matter, because now Nursey mattered. He had to care when Nursey got mad at him (which did happen no matter how "chill" he insisted he was).

Nursey totally overreacted though- he should know Dex doesn’t care that he likes guys, but flirting right in front of him when they were supposed to be having a conversation was plain rude, and the dude he was talking too might have been Nursey’s type, but Nursey's type was douchebags. So yeah, Dex told him to get lost, but it wasn’t because he was a guy. It just bugged him when someone took Nursey's attention away from him like that. 

Dex downed the rest of his beer, then Tango’s when he realized what road his brain was headed down. There may have been another reason Dex leaned into his anger when he was with Nursey, but this was not the night he was going to think about that.

The music pulsed from inside the Haus while Dex and Tango stood silent.

“I guess I kind of get it?” Tango finally said. “You like him, right?”

Dex flinched, but then he realized that wasn’t what Tango meant.

“We’re still friends. Don’t worry. We’ll be cool.”

Apologies would probably have to be made, but they’d been through worse. Tango relaxed a bit.

“Okay. Nursey looked kinda worried, he’ll be glad you said that.”

Dex’s skin felt warm and he told himself it was because he’d been drinking.

“You don’t have to tell him that.” He said quickly.

“Why not?”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. By now he’s probably dancing on tables or found someone to hook up with.”

They changed the subject to their next practice and what teams to watch out for this year. Tango eventually went back inside, as did Dex, but he didn’t see Nursey the rest of the night.

 

The next morning, Dex had a text from Nursey.

_Hey, can we talk?_

Ohh no. It was too early for Dex to be having a heart attack. Nursey actually using punctuation in his texts was enough of a bad sign, but he never texted just to talk after a fight. They usually settled it with brief words and touches at practice, or at breakfast, or the next time they caught each other at the Haus. They didn’t go out of their way to meet up and talk it all out. Dex swallowed and typed out a quick _sure_ before he lost his nerve and decided to pretend he didn’t see it.

It was just one fight and one text. Okay. He did not need to get worked up. This could mean a hundred things or nothing. He tried not to think about it while he got ready. He tried not to think about it when he got more texts. He tried not to think about it when he started walking to the lake quad. He tried not to think about how this fight could have been so bad Nursey needed to talk about it right away. He tried not to think about it so hard all he thought about was not thinking about it, and by the time he saw Nursey he was a bundle of nerves but still had no idea what he was going to say.

Nursey waved from his space on the ground next to a tree (because of course he couldn’t find a bench like a normal person).

“Poindexter,” he greeted with a nod.

His slouch and easy expression said ‘chill’ but he was fidgeting with his left hand the way he always did on a roadie heading to a big game. Something about that gesture irritated Dex. It always made him want to grab his hand and stop it.

“Was there something you wanted?” Dex tried to sound casual. He realized at this angle he was literally looking down on Nursey- which was not the message he wanted to be sending right now- and plopped next to him against the tree trunk.

“You get home okay last night?” Nursey began, hand still moving.

“Yeah. Left kinda early. What about you? Tango was worried.”

“Oh, so ‘Tango’ was worried about me.” Nursey chirped, light glinting in his eyes.

“Yes, Tango was worried. He talked to me for you just to make sure we were cool. Pretty sure he was the one who caught you when you fell off Ollie’s shoulders, too.”

“I love that kid.” Nursey smiled briefly then he became more serious. “Are we though? Cool, I mean.”

“Of course. We always are.”

“Not last night. Or last week when that guy from my history class was trying to ask me out.”

“Did you want to go out with him?” To be honest Dex thought he was doing him a solid when he made excuses for them to leave. Dude was a creep with no concept of personal space or hygiene.

“That’s not the point, Poindexter.” His hand was a solid fist now, brows furrowed, frown deepening. “There’ve been other guys before and the more I think about it you were never chill about any of them. You act cool around just me and Bitty and you say you don’t have a problem, but you clearly do.”

Was he seriously saying this?

“I thought we’d been over this, I’m not-”

“Say it all you want, if you’re not homophobic then why would you pull this every time I’m around a guy like that? You can’t just pretend it’s not there when it is, I can’t do that, Dex.”

Nursey’s body was tense and angry and there was hurt in his voice. Dex knew he shouldn’t be mad right now, but that path was well worn when it came to Nursey and he followed it easily. Dex didn’t care when Bitty went on a date, or about the other guys on their team, Nursey just happened to hang around guys he couldn’t stand. Why couldn’t he see that? They’d been over this so many times, Nursey should know him by now, he should- Dex suddenly realized what he was doing to Nursey. If it hurt him when Nursey didn’t believe him after all they’d been through, it had to hurt so much worse when Dex did this to him after everything, intentional or not.

“I’m sorry,” Dex said, taking care to sound as sincere as possible. “I didn’t mean for it to come across like that, and I should have apologized when you called me out instead of getting defensive.”

Nursey didn’t look much less upset. He wasn't meeting his eyes. Knowing how bad he made Nursey feel made his chest ache.

“But I don’t know what you want me to say,” Dex continued, talking fast so Nursey couldn’t cut him off again, “I’m sorry I hurt you and everything, but you know I’ve never acted like that around Whiskey’s boyfriend, or Holster, or anyone else, I just don’t like any of the guys that go after you- especially when I’m supposed to be the one you’re with and some swim team douche just comes in and tries to take you away from me and-”

“Hold up,” Nursey said when Dex finally took a breath, “It sounds like you were jealous.”

Dex’s stomach dropped. Nursey looked at him with a glint in his eye, like he was making a joke. 

The look faded the longer it hung in the air. He and Nursey were staring at each other, both dumbfounded. Dex’s mouth hung open as he struggled to speak. He wanted to protest and tell him that obviously wasn’t it, but he couldn’t get the words out. The longer it took to say something the more it felt like he had been caught somehow.  
His mind was running more on feeling now than articulate thoughts, and every time he tried to form one his mind started panicking again. They were still staring at each other, Dex stuck on his stupid green eyes. The longer he stared the more it made sense. Nursey no longer appeared angry and Dex knew he wasn’t either. He wanted to work his way back into being angry. That he could deal with. This was new, and unfamiliar, and scary. Looking at Nursey though, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

When Dex didn’t say anything, Nursey reached over and carefully took his hand. Dex relaxed a fist he didn’t realize he was making and let his fingers ease into Nursey’s. His heart pounded. Dex watched their hands, then returned his gaze to Nursey before finally saying “Oh.”

Nursey gave a little laugh. It was too cute.

“’Oh?’” He smirked in a way that was only slightly less annoying than it had ever been.

“Don’t be a prick- I’m still figuring this out.”

"Are you... is this okay?"

"Yeah, I uh... I need a second. Wow, I uh. I did not know that was there." Dex squeezed his hand a little and relaxed some when Nursey squeezed back. "Is this okay? Sorry, I'm doing this wrong."

His heart picked up speed.

"Hey, hey, you're doing okay. There's no wrong way to do this."

In the midst of Dex's newfound somehow simultaneous understanding and confusion, guilt peaked its ugly head.

"I'm sorry I made you think- It doesn't matter that I was feeling- I didn't want to hurt you, but I did, and I'm sorry, especially because I really didn't want to hurt you but I still made excuses, and now I guess I was just stupid and scared and I didn't want to think about it, or what it was doing to you to ignore everything-"

"Dex." Nursey said softly. It was criminal how calm he made him feel. "You're okay right now. We're okay. I don't want you to hurt either. You said you're sorry and we know what's going on now. So it's okay. Right?"

How did he not realize he wanted to kiss this man sooner?

"I think... I'm not entirely sure. This is new." Dex fidgeted at the base of the tree and held tighter to Nursey. One thing he knew for sure, he did not want Nursey to let go of his hand.

“That’s okay. We can go slow. Get coffee, talk some more? Figure this out. If you want this to be a ‘this’ that is. No pressure.”

He spoke cautiously but his face was hopeful.

“Yeah,” Dex said, pulling him up, “I think I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Posting some edited tumblr prompt fics, this was one of them.


End file.
